{"id":6759,"date":"2018-08-16T15:51:16","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T19:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=6759"},"modified":"2018-08-16T15:51:16","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T19:51:16","slug":"what-is-a-tag-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/what-is-a-tag-question\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Tag Question?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_6760\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6760\" class=\"size-large wp-image-6760\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6760\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo courtesy of Pixabay, CCO<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sometimes we answer a question with another question or ask a question that can only have one answer. It is very common in English conversations, and can be deceptively tricky in some situations. We call it the <strong>tag question<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A tag question is a\u00a0grammatical\u00a0structure in which a\u00a0declarative\u00a0statement is altered by use of an\u00a0added<strong> interrogative<\/strong> (the &#8220;tag&#8221;). You can usually identify a tag question by noting that the statement and resulting tag are opposites. The <strong>auxiliary<\/strong> or main verb in the statement is changed in the tag. \u00a0A positive statement will have a negative tag, a negative statement will have a corresponding positive tag. Also, <strong>tenses<\/strong> must agree in both parts of the question.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cI <u>won\u2019t<\/u> like this movie, <u>will<\/u> I?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cYou <u>can<\/u> see the difference between them, <u>can\u2019t<\/u> you?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cYour mother <u>was<\/u> born in Texas, <u>wasn\u2019t<\/u> she?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sometimes, a tag question is asked to simply confirm what is already understood. Note that the verbs do not agree in the examples below, but the tenses do. In an English casual conversation, this is typical.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cYou are coming with me to the gym, right?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe train departs at three, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Perhaps the most common form of a tag question is the <strong>rhetorical question<\/strong>. It doesn\u2019t require a response because the response is obvious, or completely unnecessary. A rhetorical question may more often be asked to make a point rather than to gain any actual knowledge. It may also be used for comedic effect.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cYou don\u2019t expect me to answer that, do you?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWe do have laws in this country, isn\u2019t that right?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since most tag questions are used in conversation, the <strong>intonation<\/strong>, or delivery of the tag, is very important. It all depends on whether a response is expected or not. If no response is expected, and the question is really a statement, the tone at the end will be flat or go down. If you are hoping for an answer, the tonal inflection will rise, as with most questions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Statement: \u201cThis play runs for three hours, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d There would be a very brief pause before the tag, and the inflection would be flat.<\/li>\n<li>Question: \u201cThis play runs for three hours, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d The pause before the tag is longer, and the tonal inflection goes up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Watch out for <strong>negative adverbs<\/strong> in tag questions. You will commonly find negative adverbs, like never, rarely, seldom, or hardly in the positive statement before the tag. In this case, the positive statement is treated as a negative, and the negative tag is actually a positive. The answer, if needed, is always phrased in the negative, confirming the statement.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cI bet you never saw anything like that before, did you?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cShe rarely leaves her home now, does she?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You will also find that some tag questions are <strong>imperatives<\/strong>, meaning that they are commands which don\u2019t require a response.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cYou will sit down, won\u2019t you?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cYou can do this for me, can\u2019t you?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What are some examples of tag questions that you\u2019ve heard?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question-350x233.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/08\/Tag-Question.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Sometimes we answer a question with another question or ask a question that can only have one answer. It is very common in English conversations, and can be deceptively tricky in some situations. We call it the tag question. A tag question is a\u00a0grammatical\u00a0structure in which a\u00a0declarative\u00a0statement is altered by use of an\u00a0added interrogative (the&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/what-is-a-tag-question\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":6760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[134956,135139],"tags":[6,140674,273873],"class_list":["post-6759","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-grammar","category-english-language","tag-grammar","tag-parts-of-speech","tag-tag-questions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6759"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6762,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6759\/revisions\/6762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}